We were a little belated with our Seuss celebrations but had a blast anyway! The book Cara wrote last year was so much fun that we decided to use it again and our sensory group also did many of the same activities. Our fine motor group made some Truffula trees and a Lorax. The language group played a fishing game with rhyming words. Silly and seussical—–read along to see all the fun we had!
SENSORY GROUP
This box represents our very favorite cat—-that ONE with a hat! There were red, white, and black pompoms and chenille stems. Both the pompoms and chenille stems were so soft and fluffy but with different colors and shapes—-great for sorting! Our students had a great time with the box, especially enjoying waving the chenille stems around like cat tails. Others creatively joined the chenille stems together to make circles.
The science access point recognize common objects as the same is related to the practice of science.
The math access point recognize 3 dimensional objects, such as spheres is also addressed.
The “ABC “book is one of our favorites so we put lots of alphabet letters to find in our blue and white rice. A picture of the cat in the hat was also taped to the bottom of the box for more fun.
We just love that cat in the hat!
Finding the letters promotes visual and tactile discrimination.
There were a lot of fun animals included in the “If I ran the Zoo” box. It was also a noisy box since some of the animals roared or neighed when a button on their tummies was pushed——great for finger isolation! We found them in the dollar section at Target. We also included some play food for the animals and a little Duplo zoo keeper. The students also had a great time with the binoculars that were included in the box.
The science access points recognize common objects related to science by name, such as an animal and recognize a model of a real object are addressed here. These access points are related to learning the terms that describe examples of scientific knowledge.
We used these cool fabric balls to represent Trufulla trees and our students LOVED them! They were great to run fingers through or to wave and shake. Since we included 3 balls, they could be shared with friends for even MORE fun!
The math access point recognize when 1 or 2 items have been added to or removed from sets of objects to 3 is addressed.
Sharing objects with a partner is a science access point also addressed 🙂
Around here we LIKE green eggs! Our play dough came out a really beautiful shade of green, perfect for making green eggs with the cookie cutter.
Recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is the science access point related to forces and changes in motion.
The math access point recognize 2 objects that are identical to each other can also be addressed.
Well it just wouldn’t be a Dr. Seuss unit without oobleck and we LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff! It really is amazing how cool a mixture of plain cornstarch and water can be.
Besides the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move the motion of objects is explored in the science access point track objects in motion.
Again, always more fun when shared with a friend 🙂
We searched for 1 red fish and 2 blue fish in our water play bowl. The blue fish squirted water when squeezed making for a fun way to rinse the oobleck off hands—–or squirt friends across the table 🙂
Properties of matter are explored in the science access point identify common classroom objects by one observable property, such as color.
Math access points are also addressed including recognize 2 objects that are identical to each other and recognize differences in size of objects.
We finished with our 10 apples on top Bath and Bodyworks country apple scented lotion. It was a nice, light fruity scent—–perfect for remembering all the fun we had in group.
Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday we made some super cute Truffula trees. We adapted an idea we got from the PreK and K Sharing pin on Pinterest and loved how it turned out!
First our students chose which color background they wanted using communication symbols. We discussed the shape of the paper and then counted how many were passed out.
The language access point effectively communicate wants, with prompting, to a familiar person is addressed.
The science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color and the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes are also addressed.
Then the students tore green paper to make “hills” and glued them down onto their papers. Both of these are great activities for promoting bilateral coordination!
The students really enjoyed the paper tearing step 🙂
It also addresses the science access point recognize a change in an object which promotes understanding that matter can undergo a variety of changes.
Changes in matter and bilateral coordination are again explored in the next step! Tissue paper—-as always, collected from presents past—–was squished and crumpled into balls.
The tissue balls were then dipped into glue and glued onto the paper.
Pat, pat, pat!
We used these super cool striped paper straws (thanks Courtney!) for tree trunks! They were a little tricky to glue down and while some of our students were able to do it independently, most needed some help aligning them along the glue line.
Ta Da—–soooooo SEUSSICAL!
Our Thursday art project was a Lorax! We started by asking our students to identify the color orange using our communication symbols. Most of our students needed a little help find the correct color but that’s ok—-we just will continue to have fun practicing!
The science access point identify objects by one observable property is addressed in addition to the language access point communicate information about familiar objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words.
Then we counted out small paper plates—–discussing the circle shape to address the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.
It’s so much fun to paint and our students are getting so good at using painting utensils! For our students with physical challenges, we taped a brush to a paint stick to make it easier for them to manage—-it works great! As they move their paintbrushes around the plate they are learning about changes in matter and addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.
After we finished painting, it was time to add the features to the Lorax’s face. We discussed each body part before gluing it down and asked the students to find the same body part on themselves. Since our students do not have mustaches 🙂 we said it was supposed to go UNDER the eyes.
We used googlie eyes and an orange pompom nose. Joy drew the eyebrows and mustache (here is the pattern: lorax )which were cut out prior to the art activity.
This activity addresses the science access point recognize one or more external body parts.
It also addresses the science access point recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.
Ta Da—-so cute!
LANGUAGE GROUP
Because we are talking about Dr. Seuss this week, what would be more appropriate than targeting rhyming words during our language group!
Our students got to play a fishing game to go with the Dr. Seuss book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. The game has different colored fish that can be “caught” with a Velcro fishing pole.
Each student had a turn to catch a fish—–a great way to work on eye hand coordination!
Whatever color fish they caught, they had to identify a word that rhymed with it!
The students were given a choice of 2 different words to choose from. For example, if they caught the red fish, they would have to choose what “red” rhymed with: “bed” or “clean”.
Our students did pretty well with this task! If they were unable to figure out the correct rhyming word, the rest of the class helped them out.
Responding to patterns of language in read-aloud rhymes is a language access point.
For our students with a visual impairment students, Joy brought in a big fish that vibrates when it’s squeezed. This vibrating fish was just so much fun—–everyone wanted a chance to play with it 🙂
The science access point recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is addressed here.
At the end of the game, we practiced putting all the fish back IN the fish bowl.
Well that is that for the cat in the hat! We are off for spring break next week——oh the places we are going to go 🙂
See you soon for more fun…..Group by Group!